MOVIE REVIEW: 'Wilson" an odd, rambling character study

Friday

Mar 24, 2017 at 6:00 AM

Woody Harrelson plays a goofy misfit who just can't stop talking.

By Ed Symkus/For The Patriot Ledger

How can one not be a fan of Woody Harrelson? He’s proven himself over and over as an actor of great range, and he’s convincing in pretty much every part he plays. Oscar-nominated twice for serious roles – in “The People vs. Larry Flynt” and “The Messenger” – he’s also been hilarious as Roy in “Kingpin” and scary as hell in “Natural Born Killers” and “Seven Psychopaths.”

But he’s hit a snag in “Wilson,” in which he’s tasked with taking on a dramatic role but playing it as a goofy guy, someone who doesn’t quite fit in with the world around him.

Categorized as a comedy, even though some viewers will find it sadder than it is funny, it introduces the title character through voice-over narration, during which he regretfully accepts that happiness is hard to come by, that these days, there’s no sense of community, that nobody has conversations anymore.

Wilson does enjoy a small degree of joy; his little dog Pepper is his pal, and his dog sitter Shelly (Judy Greer) is always smiling. But his one guy friend is kind of short with him, and the guy’s wife doesn’t like it when Wilson visits.

During a journey home to say goodbye to his dying father, Wilson reveals a propensity to start what amounts to one-way dialogues with total strangers, probably because he’s starving to speak with someone. But being a man with no social graces, he brings his intrusive chats to the point of annoyance.

The death of his father, someone with whom he never had much of a relationship, leaves him alone. Well, except for Pippi (Laura Dern), the wife who walked out on him 17 years earlier. OK, so that’s a piece of startling information for anyone watching. A sudden urge to reconnect with her sends him on a search, though he admits to being afraid that he’ll discover she’s become either a hooker or a waitress. It’s hard to tell if he’s more relieved that she’s a waitress.

Then there’s her reaction to seeing him: “Oh, no! I’ve been trying to make a new start!”

But they talk, they have a drink, and she casually mentions that after she left, she had his child, put her up for adoption, and she’s now living with a wealthy family.

His reaction: “Woo hoo! I’m a dad!”

It wasn’t till this point in the film that something quietly gnawing at me became clear: Harrelson is playing the part with a spot-on vocal impersonation of Owen Wilson. I have no idea why. Neither have I yet figured out the whys and wherefores of the various directions the film then heads.

Wilson and Pippi track down and attempt to get to know Claire (Isabella Amara), a generally unhappy young loner who is bullied at school for being overweight, and who is rather aloof about meeting her real parents. Maybe she’s able to see that her mom is a broken woman with a dodgy past and that her dad is a pathetic fellow who just wants to see everything in a positive light. Maybe she’s got her own problems. Because this is titled “Wilson,” it makes sense that its attention keeps coming back to him, but a little of Harrelson’s Wilson goes a long way. He can’t stop talking, and as it all edges toward being a road movie, stops along the way to visit family members suggest that he thinks he’s always the funniest guy in the room. But he’s not. He’s more like an excitable little boy.

As to whether or not “Wilson” really should be labeled a comedy, suffice it to say pretty much everything that could go wrong for this poor, well-meaning guy does. There’s even some jail time and, upon release, some bad news about his little dog. This is an odd, rambling character study of a movie, with the idea of linear plot being far less important than the people being portrayed. In the end, life kind of goes on, and though the characters have gone through lots of change, we’re left with Wilson, still keeping an eye open for an elusive ray of hope.